Where Music Comes to Play

Android Powered Creative Zii Egg

We saw the Zii Egg pass though the FCC a few weeks ago and today Creative has unveiled the Zii Egg development platform. While the Zii EGG is a finished product it is not quite ready for the consumer market. Creative is banking on developers to build applications and entire user experiences out of the Zii EGG hardware though Android and their own Linux based OS dubbed Plaszma. One of the big differences being that the Plaszma OS takes advantage of the Zii chips cell architecture.

It will be interesting to see how other mp3 player manufactures respond to this with similar “phone like” platforms. Archos has been moving in that direction and Samsung might be too with the M1 or a non 3G version of an Omnia. It will be interesting to see who is going to follow this path. Will we see SanDisk get into the fray? Sony? Cowon? How much of an OS will the Zune HD be? These are definitely some exciting times for the portable media industry.

How much will this player cost? I know on the site it says it’s $399 but that’s with the development kit too. Does anyone know how much it will cost without the kit? I heard that it will be $199 with no flash capabilities? Is this true and if so can anyone confirm it? I’ve been waiting for something like this for a long long time! Lets hope it’s cheap enough now…

Ben is wrong. The Zii will cost $199 without the developer’s SDK or any memory, according to the Zii official website. So $199 plus a $70 32gb sd card would be a pretty good deal for a very capable 32gb pmp

Frankly I don’t get all this excitement.. i would prefere some classy audio amplifier built-in instead of an interface or an application or other bloatware. And all this bloatware will reduce the battery life… Do uou want all these applications and toys go get an Ipod Touch Now and save yourself time.

@Luca:1) What are you doing on an anti-ipod site telling people to get an ipod?2) Bloatware? What are you even talking about? Is every interface bloatware to you?3) Save ourselves time? What does that mean, you idiot? How is anybody wasting time but NOT getting an ipod touch?

I have lost my desire to wait for creative to get a product to market. I have bought Creative devices excusively for years now, but i can only wait so long before Zune HD or Cowon makes me jump ship…please creative stop playing with my heart!!!

I have read up on this device as much as I can, and the integration of the SDHC card is still kind of a mystery. Is it in fact ONE library unlike Creative’s other players I have?Android is a great platform, but I can’t help but think with the GSM hardware this would make a MUCH more capable phone than an audio player. I’m willing to give it a wait and see attitude, but Creative is on thin ice for me. I WANT it to be fantastic, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

I think it’s cool how alot of mp3 players are adding more and more features what were once only found on smartphones (and PDAs before that), but personally there seems to be far too much overlap now between mp3 players and….well, smartphones.Sure, some people only have a basic cellphone, and some have no cellphone at all, but if you need both have the ability to choose I would just get a smartphone and call it a day. This Zii Egg does everything that many smart phones already do, but without the ability to make calls. So great, now I have to carry around my phone and an mp3 player that is bigger than my phone.In my opinion, the big names in mp3 players need to either sign some deals with the makers of cell phones, or start offering phones themselves. Once they can start turning out cellphones with excellent sound quality, then we have a sure fire hit across the board.

I too, like many others, am awaiting the production of a touchscreen MP3 player containing many great capabilities such as those of an iPhone or iPod Touch yet created by a quality brand name company such as Zune, Sony, Samsung, Cowon, etc… I especially look forward to the upcoming ZuneHD, as it possesses Wifi features. As much as I admire the Samsung P3, especially for it’s great quality at such an outstanding price, it contains no WiFi capabilities and therefore eliminates all activities linked to use of the internet such as YouTube or email. I’m currently awaiting the ZuneHD with higher hopes that it will fulfill my needs yet I wouldn’t like to shell out $300 to $400 on a portable electronic device. For this reason, I didn’t go out and get the Sony X. I await the day someone creates a touchscreen MP3 player with features vital to sustain the needs of average consumers such as internet and possibly phone service yet at a more affordable price.

@Gaius1) I Know it sounds outrageuos but if you are so excited about applications and non audio features you must buy the complete apple package every other PMP can’t compete with all that2) i’m not staring at the screen while listening to music, so every fancy interface is bloatware (never mind applications). I now have a Sansa Fuze and before I had a Sansa C200 with a tiny monocromatic LCD screen. It did the job well and can build ONE SINGLE library from the aggregation of internal Memory and external SD card..3) Maybe I don’t understand the doctrine of this website… I was thinking that we avoid apple products because of the poor audio quality surrounded by a lot of frills, non essentials applications and fancy frills not because we are Anti-Apple fanboys.

I hope you guys realize that the next ipod touch will already have these features, (including GPS)and also it would already have a large userbase and a loyal group of developers.So what is Creative promising that isn’t already there?

and I’m assuming android is enough to make up for its shortcomings–small user base,-probably not as many loyal developers,-hasn’t made anything GOOD since the ZVM and lost a lot of fans, me includedwhat I’m trying to get at is, if it’s trying to be like something that’s already there, why not just get what’s already there?

$399 for the 32gb version and SDK at the moment, which puts it at the same price as the equivalent itouch, should be cheaper when ready for consumers.For some reason in the UK the ipod touch 32gb costs £283 where as the zii egg is closer to £236 which is a massive saving, considering it has greater potential for compatability in movie and video formats, web browsing plugins ect.I don’t think the Itouch has similar features due to apple strangling anything that offers an alternative root for consumers. Finally the fact it has 1080p output is really quite impressive, if you go to their website and watch some of the videos you’ll be able to see just how far they leave their competitors behind.

As powerfull as the zii is, I found it interesting that it could power 4 720p displays simoltaneously but only output 40M texels per second compared to tegra which outouts 600M texels a second. Is there a misundestanding as no one has yet attempted to compare the graphics power of tegra vs ZII???

If phone makers like Nokia, Sony Erisson, HTC, Samsung, LG and so on can combine force with Creative to add a 3G capability. And also if Creative can convince software developers to add applications on its own os platform or work fully with google community to integrate and exploit Android os. Creative would never be able to bring this device to a higher heights even with great processing power. It would become nothing but a piece of expensive hardware junk.

This thing looks *excellent*. I have to admit — and it saddens me as a multi-Sansa owner and regular reader of this blog — but I did get an iPod touch last winter and love having it with me all the time. This will well and truly replace it.

@ lawrenceThe reason this is noteworthy, despite a small fanbase, is, as sz said, Android. And what’s already out there (i.e. iPod Touch) is linked into Apple where developers are charged more for making applications and must go through the Apple approval process.Adding Android as an OS option has the potential for huge capability increases because app developers now have significantly fewer hoops to jump through, and while the fanbase may be small ultimately the fanbase that will matter for apps on this is the Android fanbase, not the Zii fanbase, and that has the potential to explode in the next year or two, which means loyal developers will not be in short supply for long.Add that to the dual opposing cameras on this and the new hardware (which Android is making a special version to take advantage of) and the only regret possible is the lack of a digital compass.@ LucaYou don’t have to be and Anti-Apple fanboy to not want to chain yourself to the Apple approval process, which just turned down Google Voice as an app. Having that to face vs. the Android app development process which has no restrictions, well that’s a no-brainer to me. And I have to agree that suggesting people buy an iPod Touch on an anythingbutipod forum is just kind of…pointless.

abi Editor's Choice

SanDisk Sansa Clip+

The Clip+ has a fantastic little form factor; somewhat cheap in build quality but very rugged. The interface is simple and relatively straightforward. The features on the Clip are more or less average, however it supports the alternative Rockbox firmware which provides tons of additional options (gapless playback, Replaygain, playlists, Last.fm scrobbling, etc). Read the full review or go ahead and buy it.

Cowon J3

The J3 is a fantastic PMP with a very nice AMOLED screen and tons of features. It sports Cowon's trademark BBE sound enhancements, and offers a customizable user interface with strong support by our user community. You can usually find it at Amazon for the best price - and don't forget to check out our review.

Microsoft Zune HD

Sure, many of us are not big fans of the walled garden, but there are a lot of great things going on with the Zune: sturdy hardware, ultra easy to use user interface, and a media player that is worthy of Editor’s Choice. You can check out our Zune HD review or stop by our Zune forums for the latest info and gossip.

Phonak Audéo PFE

Phonak Audéo PFE offer outstanding clarity and precision; natural, dynamic mids and treble, and decent bass for a single armature in-ear phone. They handle dense, complex music very well. The PFE work well with most acoustic and some electronic music genres, but bassheads might have to look at other alternatives. They're great for sports as well, since they fit very securely. Check out our review.

Hippo VB

The Hippo VB (Variable Bass) offers a serious subwoofer for on the go, right in your head. They don’t just deliver generous quantities of punchy, textured bass, but good audio quality over the whole frequency range with decent clarity and exceptional soundstage. Exchangeable bass ports let you customize their sound to your liking. Read our in-depth Hippo VB review.

Soundmagic E10 / E30

The Soundmagic E10 and E30 are basically right in the middle between the Phonak PFE and Hippo VB - not too analytical sounding, not too bass heavy. The E10 provide a bit more bass, the E30 a bit more clarity. Both come with a very fair price tag considering the sound quality they deliver - a great choice for the audio aficionado on a budget. Read our E10 and E30 reviews for more info.